XI

THE PASSING OF PEG-LEG

In the early part of September, '91, the eastern overland express on
the Denver and Rio Grande was held up and robbed at Texas Creek. The
place is little more than a watering-station on that line, but it was
an inviting place for hold-ups.

Surrounded by the fastnesses of the front range of the Rockies,
Peg-Leg Eldridge and his band selected this lonely station as best
fitted for the transaction in hand. To the southwest lay the Sangre
de Cristo range, in which the band had rendezvoused and planned this
robbery. Farther to the southwest arose the snow-capped peaks of the
Continental Divide, in whose silent solitude an army might have taken
refuge and hidden.

It was an inviting country to the robber. These mountains offered
retreats that had never known the tread of human footsteps. Emboldened
by the thought that pursuit would be almost a matter of impossibility,
they laid their plans and executed them without a single hitch.

About ten o'clock at night, as the train slowed up as usual to take
water, the engineer and fireman were covered by two of the robbers.
The other two--there were only four--cut the express car from the
train, and the engineer and fireman were ordered to decamp. The
robbers ran the engine and express car out nearly two miles, where, by
the aid of dynamite, they made short work of a through safe that the
messenger could not open. The express company concealed the amount
of money lost to the robbers, but smelters, who were aware of certain
retorts in transit by this train, were not so silent. These smelter
products were in gold retorts of such a size that they could be made
away with as easily as though they had reached the mint and been
coined.

There was scarcely any excitement among the passengers, so quickly was
it over. While the robbery was in progress the wires from this station
were flashing the news to headquarters. At a division of the railroad
one hundred and fifty-six miles distant from the scene of the robbery,
lived United States Marshal Bob Banks, whose success in pursuing
criminals was not bounded by the State in which he lived. His
reputation was in a large measure due to the successful use of
bloodhounds. This officer's calling compelled him to be both plainsman
and mountaineer. He had the well-deserved reputation of being as
unrelenting in the pursuit of criminals as death is in marking its
victims.

Within half an hour after the robbery was reported at headquarters,
an engine had coupled to a caboose at the division where the marshal
lived. He was equally hasty. To gather his arms and get his dogs
aboard the caboose required but a few moments' time.

Everything ready, they pulled out with a clear track to their
destination. Heavy traffic in coal had almost ruined the road-bed, but
engine and caboose flew over it regardless of its condition. Halfway
to their destination the marshal was joined by several officials,
both railway and express. From there the train turned westward, up the
valley of the Arkansas. Here was a track and an occasion that gave the
most daring engineer license to throw the throttle wide open.

The climax of this night's run was through the Grand Canon of the
Arkansas. Into this gash in the earth's surface plunged the engineer,
as though it were an easy stretch of down-grade prairie. As the engine
rounded turns, the headlight threw its rays up serried columns of
granite half a mile high,--columns that rear their height in grotesque
form and Gothic arch, polished by the waters of ages.

As the officials agreed, after a full discussion with the marshal of
every phase and possibility of capture, the hope of this night's work
and the punishment of the robbers rested almost entirely on three dogs
lying on the floor, and, as the rocking of the car disturbed them,
growling in their dreams. In their helplessness to cope with this
outrage, they turned to these dumb animals as a welcome ally. Under
the guidance of their master they were an aid whose value he well
understood. Their sense of smell was more reliable than the sense of
seeing in man. You can believe the dog when you doubt your own eyes.
His opinion is unquestionably correct.

As the train left the canon it was but a short run to the scene of
the depredation. During the night the few people who resided at
this station were kept busy getting together saddle-horses for the
officer's posse. This was not easily done, as there were few horses at
the station, while the horses of near-by ranches were turned loose in
the open range for the night. However, upon the arrival of the train,
Banks and the express people found mounts awaiting them to carry them
to the place of the hold-up.

After the robbers had finished their work during the fore part of the
night, the train crew went out and brought back to the station the
engine and express car. The engine was unhurt, but the express car
was badly shattered, and the through safe was ruined by the successive
charges of dynamite that were used to force it to yield up its
treasure. The local safe was unharmed, the messenger having opened it
in order to save it from the fate of its larger and stronger brother.
The train proceeded on its way, with the loss of a few hours' time and
the treasure of its express.

Day was breaking in the east as the posse reached the scene. The
marshal lost no time circling about until the trail leaving was
taken up. Even the temporary camp of the robbers was found in close
proximity to the chosen spot. The experienced eye of this officer soon
determined the number of men, though they led several horses. It was
a cool, daring act of Peg-Leg and three men. Afterward, when his past
history was learned, his leadership in this raid was established.

Peg-Leg Eldridge was a product of that unfortunate era succeeding
the civil war. During that strife the herds of the southwest were
neglected to such an extent that thousands of cattle grew to maturity
without ear-mark or brand to identify their owner. A good mount of
horses, a rope and a running-iron in the hands of a capable man, were
better than capital. The good old days when an active young man could
brand annually fifteen calves--all better than yearlings--to every
cow he owned, are looked back to to this day, from cattle king to the
humblest of the craft, in pleasant reminiscence, though they will come
no more. Eldridge was of that time, and when conditions changed,
he failed to change with them. This was the reason that, under the
changed condition of affairs, he frequently got his brand on some
other man's calf. This resulted in his losing a leg from a gunshot at
the hands of a man he had thus outraged. Worse, it branded him for all
time as a cattle thief, with every man's hand against him. Thus the
steps that led up to this September night were easy, natural, and
gradual. This child of circumstances, a born plainsman like the
Indian, read in plain, forest, and mountain, things which were not
visible to other eyes. The stars were his compass by night, the heat
waves of the plain warned him of the tempting mirage, while the cloud
on the mountain's peak or the wind in the pines which sheltered him
alike spoke to him and he understood.

The robbers' trail was followed but a few miles, when their course
was well established. They were heading into the Sangre de Cristo
Mountains. Several hours were lost here by the pursuing party, as they
were compelled to await the arrival of a number of pack horses; so
when the trail was taken up in earnest they were at least twelve hours
behind the robbers.

In the ascent of the foot-hills the dogs led the posse, six in number,
a merry chase. As they gradually rose to higher altitudes the trail
of the robbers was more compact and easy to follow, except for the
roughness of the mountain slope. Frequently the trail was but a single
narrow path. Old game trails, where the elk and deer, drifting in
the advance of winter, crossed the range, had been followed by the
robbers. These game trails were certain to lead to the passes in the
range. Thus, by the instinct given to the deer and elk against the
winter's storm, the humblest of His creatures had blazed for these
train robbers an unerring pathway to the mountain's pass.

Along these paths the trail was so distinct that the dogs were an
unnecessary adjunct to the pursuing party. These hounds, one of which
was a veteran in the service, while the other two, being younger, were
without that practice which perfects, showed an exuberance of energy
and ambition in following the trail. The ancestry of the dogs was
Russian. Hounds of this breed never give mouth, thus warning
the hunted of their approach. Man-hunting is exciting sport. The
possibility, though the trail may look hours old, that any turn of the
trail may disclose the fugitives, keeps at the highest tension every
nerve of the pursuer.

All day long the marshal and posse climbed higher and higher on the
rugged mountainside. Night came on as they reached the narrow plateau
that formed the crest of the mountain, on which they found several
small parks. Here they made the first halt since the start in the
morning. The necessity of resting their saddle stock was very apparent
to Banks, though he would gladly have pushed on. The only halt he
could expect of the robbers was to save their own horses, and he must
do the same. Forcing a tired horse an extra hour has left many an
amateur rider afoot. He realized this. Knowing the necessity of being
well mounted, the robbers had no doubt splendid horses. This was a
reasonable supposition.

Near midnight the marshal and posse set out once more on the trail.
He was compelled to take it afoot now, depending on his favorite dog,
which was under leash, the posse following with the mounts. The dogs
led them several miles southward on this mountain crest. Here was
where the dogs were valuable. The robbers had traveled in some places
an entire mile over lava beds, not leaving as much as a trace which
the eye could detect. Having the advantage of daylight, the robbers
selected a rocky cliff, over which they began the descent of the
western slope of this range. The ingenuity displayed by them to throw
pursuit from their trail marked Peg-Leg as an artist in his calling.
But with the aid of dogs and the dampness of night, their trail was as
easily followed as though it had been made in snow.

This declivity was rough, and in places every one was compelled to
dismount. Progress was extremely slow, and when the rising sun tipped
the peaks of the Continental Range, before them lay the beautiful
landscape where the Rio Grande in a hundred mountain streams has her
fountain-head. With only a few hours' rest for men and animals during
the day, night fell upon them before they had reached the mesa at the
foot-hills on the western slope. An hour before nightfall they came
upon the first camp or halt of the robbers. They had evidently spent
but a short time here, there being no indication that they had slept.
Criminals are inured to all kinds of hardship. They have been known to
go for days without sleep, while smugglers, well mounted, have put a
hundred miles of country behind them in a single night.

The marshal and party pushed forward during the night, the country
being more favorable. When morning came they had covered many a mile,
and it was believed they had made time, as the trail seemed fresher.
There were several ranches along the main stream in the valley, which
the robbers had avoided with well-studied caution, showing that they
had passed through in the daytime. There are several lines of railroad
running through this valley section. These they crossed at points
between stations, where observation would be almost impossible either
by day or night. Inquiries at ranches failed on account of the lack
of all accurate means of description. The posse was maintaining a due
southwest course that was carrying them into the fastnesses of the
main range of the western continent. Another full day of almost
constant advance, and the trail had entered the undulating hills
forming the approach of this second range of mountains. Physical
exertion was beginning to tell on the animals, and they were compelled
to make frequent halts in the ascent of this range.

The fatigue was showing in the two younger dogs. Their feet had been
cut in several places in crossing the first range of mountains. During
the past nights in the valley, though their master was keeping a
sharp lookout, they encountered several places where sand-burrs were
plentiful. These burrs in the tender inner part of a dog's foot, if
not removed at once, soon lame it. Many times had the poor creatures
lain down, licking their paws in anguish. On examination during the
previous night, their feet were found to be webbed with this burr.
Now, on climbing this second mountain, they began to show the lameness
which their master so much feared, until it was almost impossible to
make them take any interest in the trail. The old dog, however, seemed
nothing the worse for his work.

On reaching the first small park near the summit of this range, the
pursuers were so exhausted that they lay down and took their first
sleep, having been over three days and a half on the trail. The
marshal himself slept several hours, but he was the last to go to
sleep and the first to awake. Before going to sleep, and on arising,
he was particular to bathe the dogs' feet. The nearest approach to a
liniment that he possessed was a lubricating tube for guns, which he
fortunately had with him. This afforded relief.

It was daybreak when the pursuers took up the trail. The plateau on
the crest of this range was in places several miles wide, having a
luxuriant growth of grass upon it. The course of the robbers continued
to the southwest. The pursuers kept this plateau for several miles,
and before descending the western slope of the range an abandoned camp
was found, where the pursued had evidently made their first bunks.
Indications of where horses had been picketed for hours, and where
both men and horses had slept were evident. The trail where it left
this deserted camp was in no wise encouraging to the marshal, as
it looked at least thirty-six hours old. As the pursuers began the
descent, they could see below them where the San Juan River meanders
to the west until her waters, mingling with others, find their outlet
into the Pacific. It was a trial of incessant toil down the mountain
slope, wearisome alike to man and beast. Near the foot-hill of this
mountain they were rewarded by finding a horse which the robbers had
abandoned on account of an accident. He was an extremely fine horse,
but so lame in the shoulders, apparently owing to a fall, that it
was impossible to move him. The trail of the robbers kept in the
foot-hills, finally doubling back an almost due east course. Now and
then ranches were visible out on the mesa, but in all instances they
were carefully avoided by the pursued.

Spending a night in these hills, the posse prepared to make an early
start. Here, however, they met their first serious trouble. Both of
the younger dogs had feet so badly swollen that it was impossible
to make them take any interest in the trail. After doing everything
possible for them, their owner sent them to a ranch which was in sight
several miles below in the valley. Several hours were lost to the
party by this incident, though they were in no wise deterred in
following the trail, still having the veteran dog. Late that afternoon
they met a _pastor_ who gave them a description of the robbers.

"Yesterday morning," said the shepherd, in broken Spanish, "shortly
after daybreak, four men rode into my camp and asked for breakfast. I
gave them coffee, but as I had no meat in my quarters, they tried to
buy a lamb, which I have no right to sell. After drinking the coffee
they tendered me money, which I refused. On leaving, one of their
number rode into my flock and killed a kid. Taking it with him, he
rode away with the others."

A good description of the robbers was secured from this simple
shepherd,--a full description of men, horses, colors, and condition
of pack. The next day nothing of importance developed, and the posse
hugged the shelter of the hills skirting the mountain range, crossing
into New Mexico. It was late that night when they went into camp on
the trail. They had pushed forward with every energy, hoping to lessen
the intervening distance between them and the robbers. The following
morning on awakening, to the surprise and mortification of everybody,
the old dog was unable to stand upon his feet. While this was felt to
be a serious drawback, it did not necessarily check the chase.

In bringing to bay over thirty criminals, one of whom had paid the
penalty of his crime on the gallows, master and dog had heretofore
been an invincible team. Old age and physical weakness had now
overtaken the dog in an important chase, and the sympathy he deserved
was not withheld, nor was he deserted. Tenderly as a mother would lift
a sick child, Banks gathered him in his arms and lifted him to one of
the posse on his horse. To the members of the posse it was a touching
scene: they remembered him but a few months before pursuing a flying
criminal, when the latter--seeing that escape was impossible and
turning to draw his own weapon upon the officer, whose six-shooter had
been emptied at the fugitive, but who with drawn knife was ready
to close with him in the death struggle--immediately threw down his
weapon and pleaded for his life.

Yet this same officer could not keep back the tears that came into
his eyes as he lifted this dumb comrade of other victories to a horse.
With an earnest oath he brushed the incident away by assuring his
posse that unless the earth opened and swallowed up the robbers they
could not escape. A few hours after taking up the trail, a ranch was
sighted and the dog was left, the instructions of the Good Samaritan
being repeated. At this ranch they succeeded in buying two fresh
horses, which proved a valuable addition to their mounts.

Now it became a hunt of man by man. To an experienced trailer like
the marshal there was little difficulty in keeping the trail. That the
robbers kept to the outlying country was an advantage. Yet the latter
traveled both night and day, while pursuit must of necessity be by day
only. With the fresh horses secured, they covered a stretch of country
hardly credible.

During the day they found a place where the robbers had camped for at
least a full day. A trail made by two horses had left this camp, and
returned. The marshal had followed it to a rather pretentious Mexican
rancho, where there was a small store kept. Here a second description
of the two men was secured, though neither one was Peg-Leg. He was so
indelibly marked that he was crafty enough to keep out of sight of so
public a place as a store. These two had tried unsuccessfully to buy
horses at this rancho.

The next morning the representative of the express company left
the posse to report progress. He was enabled to give such an exact
description of the robbers that the company, through their detective
system, were not long in locating the leader. The marshal and posse
pushed on with the same unremitting energy. The trail was now almost
due east. The population of the country was principally Mexican,
and even Mexicans the robbers avoided as much as possible. They had,
however, bought horses at several ranches, and were always liberal
in the use of money, but very exacting in regard to the quality of
horseflesh they purchased; the best was none too good for them. They
passed north of old Santa Fe town, and entering a station on the line
of railway by that name late at night, they were liberal patrons of
the gaming tables that the town tolerated. The next morning they had
disappeared.

At no time did the pursuers come within two days of them. This was
owing to the fact that they traveled by night as well as day. At the
last-mentioned point messages were exchanged with the express company
with little loss of time. Banks had asked that certain points on the
railway be watched in the hope of capture while crossing the country,
but the effort was barren of results. In following the trail the
marshal had recrossed the continuation of the first range of mountains
which they had crossed to the west ten days before, or the morning
after the robbery, three hundred miles southward. There was nothing
difficult in the passage of this range of mountains, and now before
them stretched the endless prairie to the eastward. Here Banks
seriously felt the loss of his dogs. This was a country that they
could be used in to good advantage. It would then be a question of
endurance of men and horses. As it was, he could work only by day. Two
lines of railway were yet to be crossed if the band held its course.
The same tactics were resorted to as formerly, yet this vigilance and
precaution availed nothing, as Peg-Leg crossed them carefully between
two of the watched places. Owing to his occupation, he knew the
country better by night than day.

Banks was met by the officials of the express company on one of these
lines of railroad. The exhaustive amount of information that they had
been able to collect regarding this interesting man with the wooden
leg was astonishing. From out of the abundance of the data there
were a few items that were of interest to the officer. Several of
Eldridge's haunts when not actively engaged in his profession were
located. In one of these haunts was a woman, and toward this one he
was heading, though it was many a weary mile distant.

At the marshal's request the express people had brought bloodhounds
with them. The dogs proved worthless, and the second day were
abandoned. When the trail crossed the Gulf Railway the robbers were
three days ahead. The posse had now been fourteen days on the trail.
Banks followed them one day farther, himself alone, leaving his tired
companions at a station near the line of the Panhandle of Texas. This
extra day's ride was to satisfy himself that the robbers were making
for one of their haunts. They kept, as he expected, down between the
two Canadians.

After following the trail until he was thoroughly satisfied of their
destination, the marshal retraced his steps and rejoined his posse.
The first train carried him and the posse back to the headquarters of
the express company.

Two weeks later, at a country store in the Chickasaw Nation, there
was a horse race of considerable importance. The country side were
gathered to witness it. The owners of the horses had made large wagers
on the race. Outsiders wagered money and livestock to a large amount.
There were a number of strangers present, which was nothing unusual.
As the race was being run and every eye was centred on the outcome,
a stranger present put a six-shooter to a very interested spectator's
ear, and informed him that he was a prisoner. Another stranger did the
same thing to another spectator. They also snapped handcuffs on both
of them. One of these spectators had a peg-leg. They were escorted to
a waiting rig, and when they alighted from it were on the line of
a railroad forty miles distant. One of these strangers was a United
States marshal, who for the past month had been very anxious to meet
these same gentlemen.

Once safe from the rescue of friends of these robbers, the marshal
regaled his guest with the story of the chase, which had now
terminated. He was even able to give Eldridge a good part of his
history. But when he attempted to draw him out as to the whereabouts
of the other two, Peg was sullenly ignorant of anything. They were
never captured, having separated before reaching the haunt of Mr.
Eldridge. Eldridge was tried in a Federal court in Colorado and
convicted of train robbery. He went over the road for a term of years
far beyond the lease of his natural life. He, with the companion
captured at the same time, was taken by an officer of the court to
Detroit for confinement. When within an hour's ride of the prison--his
living grave--he raised his ironed hands, and twisting from a blue
flannel shirt which he wore a large pearl button, said to the officer
in charge:--

"Will you please take this button back and give it, with my
compliments, to that human bloodhound, and say to him that I'm sorry
that I didn't anticipate meeting him? If I had, it would have saved
you this trip with me. He might have got me, but I wouldn't have
needed a trial when he did."